


Live To Serve (or, Dwyer's Big Day)

by iavenjqasdf



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Also I assumed Nohr has indoor plumbing because it was kind of central to the prompt, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Mild Language, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 13:35:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9739757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iavenjqasdf/pseuds/iavenjqasdf
Summary: A day in the life of the sleepiest butler in Nohr





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kyerou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyerou/gifts).



> I'm kinda amazed at how quickly this came to me; I basically wrote it in 2 sittings today. Anyway, this one goes out to you, leco!
> 
> Keep in mind, I tried to keep Jakob's... harsh demeanor intact in his interactions with Dwyer; I wouldn't go so far as to call him abusive, but he's definitely abrasive, so consider this a warning if you're partial to that sort of thing!

“Rise and shine, _master butler_.”

Dwyer groaned at the sound of his father’s voice, proper and eloquent even as he sneered at his son. “I’ve put in two productive hours already, before either you _or_ the sun rose. So get on with it!” Jakob commanded, turning on his heel and strutting out of the room like a flippant peacock.

Dwyer rolled onto his back with a groan, ceiling distant and hazy as it slowly came into focus. He reached over the side of his futon to find the book he’d nodded off to the previous night, but instead his fingers met porcelain. He breathed a sigh of relief; if Jakob had noticed he’d been eating in bed as well, he’d have made him wash and dry all his bedsheets before starting any of the day’s tasks.

Dwyer rolled his eyes at the thought. Just because the royal family (and Corrin themselves) were too good for a single speck of dust or stray crumb to cross their path, didn’t mean he should mind. As long as everything was in order for their masters, what harm would a comfortable (or as Jakob would put it, _cluttered and filthy_ ) private space for himself be?

Throwing on a crumpled shirt and pair of trousers, Dwyer hobbled out of his cozy quarters, stealthily slipped the plate into the sink as he entered the kitchen.

“I hope you don’t expect me to wash that for you,” Jakob snarled from behind him, causing Dwyer to squeeze his eyes shut in frustration. _It was too early to be dealing with this shit_.

“Yeah, I’ll get it,” he mumbled. “Lemme just have my coffee first.” He picked up the pot, finding it distinctly light. “Didn’t save me any?”

Jakob’s grin was particularly smug as he gulped down the last of his beverage. “You claim to be a better brewer than I, so I thought it would only be considerate not to saddle you with my substandard coffee,” he replied, placing his mug in the sink by Dwyer’s plate. “In fact, why don't you save me a cup to evaluate?” he added.

Dwyer sighed heavily as Jakob left the room, before reaching for the beans on the highest shelf. _This was gonna be a long day_.

~

His first duty of the day (after getting properly dressed, that is) was scrubbing the floors around the palace before the royal family could awaken.

Perhaps ‘scrubbing’ too harsh a word; a floor could only get so dirty overnight, right? Dwyer figured it was a waste of precious napping time to get down on his hands and knees with a bucket, when a quick mopping would achieve the same results. It wasn’t like anyone ate off the floor (besides Velouria, but she _liked_ dirt, so no harm there).

And so he mopped, making his way down the long, tile-lined halls, past the bedrooms of princes and visiting dignitaries and everyone else in between. The light was scarce, seeing as how sunrise was still a few hours away. The torches on the wall were burnt down to little nubs, glimmering red in the darkness. Dwyer paid special care to mopping up the stray ashes under those torches; no one wanted to slip in a pile of soot and go flying.

It didn’t take very long at all to finish cleaning with Dwyer’s approach, and he couldn’t help a small smile when he passed Jakob, sleeves still rolled up and forehead damp with sweat as he returned to the broom closet. With all the time he’d saved, he figured he could even sneak in a tiny nap, something he decided to put to the test by flopping back onto his mattress, asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

~

The next part of the day was always Dwyer’s favorite; despite Jakob’s long record of service, the royal family had quickly come to prefer Dwyer’s choice of coffees and teas with breakfast, and the butler had few greater pleasures than picking the perfect accompaniments to their morning meals.

It was something that just came naturally to him; Xander liked his coffee dark, Camilla and Corrin preferred theirs on the lighter side, with plenty of cream and a bit of sugar, while Leo and Elise stuck to tea (weak black and blackcurrant, respectively). Today’s breakfast (pancakes, unless Felicia managed to flub them and ended up making charcoal briquettes) would be sweet, so he used half as much sugar in their drinks to compensate, and that was it. Dwyer couldn’t fathom how this still managed to confound Jakob after all these years.

Xander and Leo would accept their drinks with an appreciative, half-asleep nod. Camilla always thanked Dwyer, despite the drowsiness evident in her voice. Elise, on the other hand, seemed just as sprightly as she’d been the previous evening, accepting her tea with a large grin and an eager expression of gratitude.

Dwyer had always liked serving her best.

“Corrin’s still up in the treehouse,” Elise explained as Dwyer found their usual spot empty. “Said they’d be down in a few minutes!” Dwyer set the coffee down nonetheless, arm already growing tired from balancing the beverage tray as he’d made his rounds. With one last look to make sure everything at the table was in order, he headed back towards the kitchen.

~

Unfortunately, his _least_ favorite part of the day would always follow his favorite. Felicia couldn’t be trusted to handle delicate dinnerware, and Jakob was busy with laundry, which left Dwyer to clear the table and begin the tedious process of washing all the dishes by hand.

The silver lining was that it didn’t take much brainpower to scrub and rinse, which gave Dwyer some time alone with his thoughts. They usually weren’t anything poetic or grandiose; just reflections on the book he was engrossed in, or the cute blue-haired boy who’d smiled at him in the training yard yesterday. He’d had such pretty eyes, Dwyer tho-.

“ _Coming through!_ ” Felicia’s shriek pierced the air as she came tumbling through the door, sending her basket sailing through the air, coming to a stop against the back of Dwyer’s head. “Ohmygosh, I’m so sorry, Dwyer!” she squeaked, quickly picking herself back up and running up to her fellow servant

Dwyer gave her a small wave. “That’s alright, it didn’t really hurt,” he reassured her, but she grabbed him an awkward consolatory hug nonetheless. Dwyer had to kneel slightly for her to be able to reach; Felicia wasn’t a particularly tall woman to begin with, but after Dwyer had hit his growth spurt, he’d had a head on her (and his father, to the latter’s unceasing envy).

“Oh, I hope the basket’s okay- ah!” she spied it lying nearby, still thankfully intact and wrapped in a checkered cloth, like something straight out of a storybook.

“What’ve you got there?” Dwyer smiled, drying his hands as Felicia brought the basket to the counter. She wasted no time pulling aside the cloth, revealing a small assortment of scrumptious (though now slightly smashed) muffins.

“Ta-da! I made these to show my gratitude for leaving me some of your delicious coffee this morning!” Felicia beamed. Dwyer cocked an eyebrow, before realizing that she’d mistaken the mug he’d left for his father as being for herself.

“O-oh,” he took a muffin out of politeness, scrambling to think of a way to resolve this without telling the maid she’d made a mistake. Dwyer had an idea; “Thank you, Felicia. These look delicious, but I’m afraid I’m watching my figure right now-“

“Figure? Dwyer, you look like a stiff breeze could push you over!”

“Then I must be doing a good job,” Dwyer replied. “But I think my dad would be just fine packing on a few more pounds, so why don’t you give the rest to him?”

“Oh, that sounds like a great idea! Sorry again, Dwyer!” Felicia smiled, dashing out of the room once more. Dwyer hoped the muffins would survive the trip as he returned to his work.

~

The afternoon sun had begun its descent once more by the time Dwyer finally made it outside. It wasn’t for long, or very far (just the steps leading to the main door); he’d have to return to the palace in a moment to start tidying Leo and Elise’s rooms before bed. Jakob still insisted he remain responsible for the elder siblings’ quarters, which was fine by Dwyer; Xander’s room was always a mess of books and letters, while Camilla’s smelled so strongly of perfume he’d almost fainted when he first tried cleaning it.

But for now, he allowed himself to breathe the fresh air, stretching his weary arms out towards the sky with a yawn. He considered making a quick trip to the stables to check on his mount, when a sudden, needlessly loud clearing of a throat startled him.

“Slacking off on the job, I see?” Jakob frowned, causing another weary groan to escape Dwyer’s throat before his expression lightened. “I’m kidding.”

“Really? Never took you for much of a joker,” Dwyer grumbled.

An awkward moment of silence passed between the two, before Jakob cleared his throat again and continued. “I wanted to express my gratitude for the pastries you had Felicia send over. Though you forgot to save me a cup of coffee like I’d asked, I nonetheless managed to sample-“

“Dad,” Dwyer interrupted Jakob, stunning the older man into silence. “I’m not Xander, or Corrin. You can just… talk normal, around me.”

Jakob took a moment to think those words over, before starting again. “I had one of the muffins, it tasted good,” He seemingly struggled to spit the rest of his words out. “Thank you for sharing.”

“Welcome,” Dwyer’s lips pulled into the faintest of smiles at that rare display of emotion.

It didn’t last. Jakob cleared his throat for the third time in as many minutes (Dwyer wondered how he hadn’t gone hoarse at that rate), before turning on his heel and heading back inside mumbling something about work yet to be done.

Dwyer sighed, taking one last look at the setting sun before he followed in his father’s footsteps. 

~

Dwyer was just about ready to keel over and die by the time he finally returned to the servants’ quarters. Elise had suddenly barged into her room in the middle of his cleaning, and insisted he give the princess a piggyback ride. After negotiating that down to a shoulder ride (given that she was both too old and heavy for piggybacking), and asking Felicia to finish his work as a favor as he passed her in the hall, he still had to set the plates out for dinner, attend to everyone’s food and beverage needs (Leo kept demanding more bread, and despite Camilla’s insistence that it was perfectly fine, he knew he’d brewed her tea a tinge too strong for her tastes, necessitating a fresh pot), and clear the table once more after the meal was over.

Thankfully, Jakob had decided to take mercy on Dwyer tonight, as he’d offered to take care of the dishwashing.

'Offered' may have been too strong a word; he’d declared the load to be much too large for Dwyer to successfully clear on his own and insisted he do it himself to make sure it got done right. Dwyer knew him well enough to see past the bluster by now, though.

He stopped by the sink, splashing some cool water onto his face to keep himself awake long enough to get ready for bed, when he noticed his plate, and his dad’s mug, still sitting unwashed. He sighed, weighing his options; after the day he’d gone through, nothing sounded more appealing than falling onto his soft bed and snoozing the night away. On the other hand, Jakob had already taken such a load off his shoulders by doing the dinnerware; it would just be cruel to leave one more dish to clean for him after that.

With a sigh, Dwyer rolled up his sleeves and grabbed the scrubbing brush. His plate wasn’t even all that dirty, but dammit, he was going to do the best job he could, right to the end. That was a butler’s duty, after all.

So he scrubbed and scoured, until the plate sparkled like a polished gemstone and the mug looked better than when Jakob had gotten it all those years ago. He set them on the drying rack, admiring his handiwork with pride, before stripping into his bedclothes and crawling under the familiar warmth of his blanket.

 _I did good today_ , he thought, smiling to himself as he drifted off into a satisfied good night’s sleep.


End file.
